Deathwatch (The Faded Earth Book 1)(71)

She writhed slowly to her elbows and knees, then leaned over the jagged gash in the roof to pull the piton free. She gave it a little wiggle. “Come on. We’re going to use this to get out of here.”





Though it would have allowed Remy to get away faster, Beck didn’t lower her to the ground first for several reasons. The first was the strong likelihood that enemy guards waited down there, and she had no intention of dropping a helpless civilian into that. The second was more practical and, if Beck was honest with herself, darker.

Remy knew about Fade B. Dedicated to stopping it as she was, Beck still knew better than to let someone with that kind of information run free in the world.

So they went down the side of the building together, Beck holding Remy in one arm as they descended. No one way lying in wait, or at least not an enemy. A figure in familiar black armor stood with its arms crossed in unmistakable annoyance. It was strange how used to the suits one could become; Beck had no trouble telling Eshton apart from other Watchmen even without his ID tag. Mannerisms carried through the metal cladding, and his suit had a number of identifying scratches and dings easy to recognize if you spent enough time looking at them.

“So much for a quiet night,” he said. “Who’s your friend?”

Beck set Remy down but kept a hand on her shoulder. “A witness.”

Eshton’s blank helmeted face turned toward the other woman. “Is she, now?”

Remy looked at Beck with wild-eyed terror. “W-what are you gonna do?”

“Not kill you,” Beck replied with a snort. “I just went to a lot of trouble to keep you alive. But you need to come with us. You won’t be safe anywhere else.”

She wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone if she were in custody, though of course Beck didn’t say that out loud. But then if she were able to get the word out, chances were nearly total that someone would kill her for it to shut her up if nothing else. Really, Beck was still telling the truth. Keeping Remy quiet would also save her life.

“Come on,” Eshton said, jerking his head toward the east. “We need to get to the Loop. This place is going to get very interesting very soon.”

Remy let her gaze switch between the pair of them. “But you’re Deathwatch. You can just walk past anyone who shows up. Who’s going to stop you?”

“I was just shot by people who don’t mind standing up to the Watch,” Beck reminded her.

Eshton, who had just turned to lead the way, spun around. “You were shot?”

“Yeah,” Beck said. “You didn’t notice? Oh. I forgot my tactical link is turned off. I’m okay. Or at least my computer says I’m not in danger of bleeding to death right this second. We’ll deal with it when we get back to base.”

Eshton bristled. “But—”

“No time, like you said,” Beck interrupted. “Go.”

With a growling noise that told her they would definitely be circling back to the subject later, he went. They moved laterally a good distance, out of the way of the Deathwatch responders that would show up to check out an explosion. Beck had activated her system override before entering the Rez, and since Eshton and Remy were with her they were safe from being recorded.

All told it took them nearly half an hour to reach the Loop station. Once they were locked in, Beck sat on one of the reinforced benches and let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Turn your tac link back on,” Eshton ordered. “I want to keep an eye on your vitals.”

Beck did as she was told, linking their suits together with the flick of an eye at a menu. Eshton hissed when the feed went live. “You’re probably going to need surgery. No exit wounds. Armor piercing rounds don’t play when they hit.”

“I don’t know much about it,” Beck said tiredly. “You’re the one with the gun.”

Remy sat watching the exchange from the other end of the bench, knees drawn up in front of her with arms wrapped around them. “Don’t you think we should get him out of there and, I don’t know, sew him up or something?”

“Her,” Beck said bemusedly. “I’m a girl in here.”

Remy looked embarrassed. “Oh. Sorry.”

Beck chuckled. “It’s literally the last worry on my mind right now.”

“The armor is the only thing keeping her going,” Eshton said. “Taking her out would be...bad.”

Remy took this at face value, which was good. Spending the next half hour arguing about it would be almost as bad as being shot in the first place.

“Did you get it?” Eshton asked. “Was this at least worth the mountain of trouble that might fall on us after tonight?”

Beck nodded. “Yeah. I got it. All we’ll need is someone with the decryption key and it’ll unlock. I copied everything.” She patted the outside of her right leg, where a small compartment packed with digital storage rested.

Eshton wouldn’t allow her to drift off, citing worry that her condition might worsen, so Beck spent the rest of the trip talking about the most boring things imaginable with Remy. She deliberately forced the conversation toward banal subject matter. Remy was in this now, but that didn’t mean she could be privy to more than what she already knew. Not yet. Not until Bowers could weigh in.

Beyond those concerns, Beck was simply done. The adrenaline was wearing off. The pain medicine was still working, but it could not completely eliminate the injuries. It all wore at her, and on top of that she was trying very hard not to think about the enormous changes tonight’s events brought.